Despite the atrocious weather that is blighting our poor garden, the local wildflowers are doing wonderfully well. I’ve started taking either a notebook, or a collecting bag, or my camera out with my when I walk the dog, to start recording and identifying and harvesting herbs and wildflower seeds. I’ve been amazed at how many of the “standard” medicinal and magical herbs grow in the fields & roadsides around our house:
Wild Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla)
It looks just like regular cultivated chamomile without the white petals. The petals are there, if you look really closely, they’re just tiny and tucked in at the base of the flower. I’ve collected some of the flower heads and I’m drying them for use in teas.
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis)
I’m going to collect some leaves and roots to try washing with it. Apparently it’s really good for delicate fabrics and also makes a gentle shampoo – I wonder how it would work on the dog?
St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum)
I’m very excited about this find – there’s a lot of it growing in the nearby fields, so I’ve harvested quite a bit and it’s hanging in bunches to dry from beams in the (cool, dark) basement. This could save me some money over the winter on the St. John’s Wort supplements I usually buy to treat my SAD. I’m going to try making an oil infusion, as well. I wish John Lust’s The Herb Book was a little more detailed in some of it’s instructions “…put fresh flowers and leaves in a jar and fill with olive oil. Close the jar and leave it in a sunny or warm place for 6 to 7 weeks, shaking it often.” So do I pack as much herb into the jar as I can, or loosely fill it, or just put a couple of sprigs in the jar? I guess I’ll have to experiment.
Other herbs I’ve found growing nearby and will be collecting, but don’t have pictures of yet:
Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata)
Mullien (Verbascum phlomoides)
Sumac (either Rhus glabra, Smooth sumac or Rhus typhina, Staghorn sumac – I need to get out my tree book to check)
Wild clover (Trifolium pratense)
out here 
11 feb/2011
what a fascinating blog.
did you find out details about preparing st john’s wort macerated oils. It’s been a year-and-a-half since your post, so you might have learned all about it & become an expert by now.
i make these oils every year, as well as many other things from st john’s wort flowers, buds and leaves. Although some might say that only the flowers contain the medicinal properties, this is not really known for sure. Some researchers consider that the tiny apertures in the leaves of st johns’ wort – which in fact are not holes, but rather translucent cells which can be clearly seen under a microscope – and which give rise to the plant’s latin & rench names hypericum perforatum & millepertuis – some researchers contend that some of the beneficial phytochemicals may come from these unusual leaf cell structures.
therefore i use flowers, buds and choice leaves. From the oil i always make the most wonderful cream for the skin. St john’s wort’s historic medical role, for hundreds of years, was as a wound healer with certain pain-reducing capacities. For example, someone with fibromyalgia might benefit from massage with st john’s wort oil.
it’s only in the 20th century that researchers in germany discovered the plant’s subtle mood-enhancing capabilities.
there are other plant oils in my facial cream that are good for the skin. Some plantain oil, a small amount of comfrey oil, some mullein flower oil in the years when i have it. If i ever had fresh calendula flowers, a small amount of oil made from them would also be in the cream.
there are a number of other ingredients. Variations of this recipe abound. I’d be happy to share the basic version if you’d like. Don’t want to bore you now; plus am not even sure that this older blog post will ever be seen by anybody.